Wagon-loading device



Aug. 4, 1925.

1,548,555 K. s. SATRE WAGON LOADING DEVICE Filed July 10, 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet l K. S. SATRE WAGON LOADING DEVICE Aug. 4, 1925.

Filed July 10, 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 llllllllEllIllIiIllfillllllR Patented Aug. 4-, 192 5.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WAGGN-LOADING DEVICE.

Application filed July 10, 1922. Serial No. 573,977.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, KNU'rn S. SATRE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Frost, in the county of F aribault and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in VVagon-Loading Devices; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object of my invention is to provide an efficient machine or apparatus for loading into wagon boxes or like receptacles, various different kinds of vegetables but more par ticularly sugar beets. Sugar beets, as is known, grow to a very considerable size and,

cannot be well handled in a scoop and, hence, it has been the common practice to load the same into wagon boxes by hand, picking the same up, usually one at a time. This hand operation is not only slow, but expensive because of the time consumed.

My invention provides means wl'iereby the sugar beets, for example, may be placed in piles and these piles easily and quickly picked up and deposited in the wagon box. The invention involves the use of a plurality, preferably a large number of flexible gathering aprons, which may be placed upon the ground and the beets piled thereon. The

loading machine is of such character that it will pick up the aprons loaded with beets and deposit the beets in a-wagon box that will be driven from one pile to the other as the loading operation proceeds.

The accompanying drawings illustrate an embodiment of the invention, which, in actual practice, has been found efficient as a labor-saving device in the loading of sugar beets and the like.

Referring to the drawings, wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the complete machine or apparatus;

Fig. 2-is a rear elevation of the same;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the so-called carrier box, some parts being broken away;

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 44 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a left side elevation of the truck of the loading device.

In Figs. 1 and 2, an ordinary wagon 6 is shown as provided with a large beet-carrying box 7 provided at one side, as shown its left-hand side, with a raised stop board 8. The wagon 6 is provided with the customary pole 9 having a chain extension 10 shown as connected to a two-horse evener 11 and co operating with other connections hereinafter described.

The truck of the loading device, as shown, comprises a triangular frame 12, a rear axle 13 with rear wheels 14, and a fixed front axle 15 having pivoted stub axles 16 equipped with front steering wheels 17. The stub axles 16 have arms 18 cross-connected by a steering rod 19. The numeral 20 indicates a steering lever pivoted to the frame 12 and to the rod 19 and connected by a steering rod 21 to the wagon pole 9. The connections just described will cause the two trucks to steer in unison and travel together.

The frame 12 has trussed upstanding pedestals 22 and to these pedestals are secured upright rectangular bearing frames 23 that are pressed frictionally against the side of the wagon box 7. Chains or cables 24 connect the frame 12 to the wagon box, as best shown in Fig. 2, and hold the two trucks against lateral separation while traveling together.

To the upper ends of the pedestals 22, at 25, are intermediately pivoted long inclined track rails 26, each track, as shown, being made up of a pair of laterally spaced bars between and to which are journaled longitudinally spaced rolls 2?. Mounted to travel on the track rails 26 is an elevator box or receptacle 28 shown as of rectangular formation, mounted to run on the anti-friction rolls 27 and equipped at its bottom with guide rolls 29, (see particularly Fig. 4) that engage the outer sides of said track rails 26. This box is provided with a drop bottom shown as made up of main sections 30 and supplemental sections 31 that normally close, respectively, a large central discharge passage 32 and outer discharge passages 33. The main sections 30 are pivoted at 34 to the fixed bottom section 28 of the box 28 and the supplemental sections 31 are connected to the outer edges of said main sections by hinges 35. At the ends of their free edges, said supplemental sections 31 are provided with small rollers 36 adapted to run .on curved guides 37 secured to the fixed portion of the bottom of the box. At their inner edges, the main bottom sections 30 are provided with projecting studs 38 that are nor- 1 mally engaged by reversely acting latch dogs 39 (see particularly Fig. 4),- that are pivoted at their upper ends to the bearings 40 on the ends of the box.

The free ends of the latch dogs 39 are connected by small rods 41 to bell cranks 42 pivoted to fixed bottom portions 28* of the elevator box 28. The bell cranks 42 are connected for simultaneous actions by small rods 43. Certain of the bell cranks 42, as shown the rear bell cranks, are'conneoted by small rods 44 to depending tripping devices, preferably made up of levers 45 and connecting links 46 (see particularly Figs. 2 and 4). The levers 45 are pivoted to the sides of the fixed bottom portions 20* of the box 23 at their extre'lne upper ends and above the pointsof connection thereto of the tripping rods 44. v chored to the box 28 and connected to the 'front levers 45 and tend to keep the latches 39 engaged with the studs 38 on the drop bottom sections 30. The rear levers 45, at the extreme upward travel of the carrier box 28, are arranged to strike against tripping abutments in the form of outstanding stop brackets 48 rigidly secured to the up per portions of the track rails 26.

The elevator box 28 has a low rear wall but a high front wall, and pivoted to the top of the front or lower portion of said box is a leaf or hinged board 49. Pivoted to the sides of the. front portion of the box 28 is a sort of bale-like structure inade up of arms 50'and a crossconnecting bar 51. To the ends of the bar 51 are secured bearings 52 to which front and rear cable-guiding sheaves 53 are journaled. Stop pins 54, on the sides of the box 28, limit the upward movements of the arins 50. Latch levers 55 are pivoted near their short inner ends to the cross bar 51 and their outwardly projecting ends are normally held on top of the rear corners of the box 28 by light coiled springs 56, thus normally holding said arn s 50 in raised positions in respect to thebox, as indicated by full lines in Fig. 2. The tripping levers have upstanding trip pins 57 (see Figs. 1 and 2). i V v V The sugar beets Y or the like, as already indicated, are adapted to be piled upon flex ibl e gathering aprons 558' which have beenplaced in a row, as shown in Fig. 1, andwill be loaded with beets while on the ground. Preferably, these gatlie'ring aprons are 'flexib'le woven wire sheets and,for sugar beets,

) would be 1i1adeof'about twodnch mesh, and

are cut to rectangular form.

. The leaf 49 of the elevator box 28 is pro- Light coiled springs 4'7 are anunder the front and under the rear guide sheaves 53. From thence, sald cables are extendedas follows: Over guide sheaves 63, a

at the upper ends of the track rails 26, thence over guide sheaves 64 on the upper ends of the pedestals 22, thence under guide sheaves on the lower portions of said pedestals; and thence over guide sheaves 66 applied to the frame of the wagon 6. The cables are then brought forward and both. connected to the evener ll.

Fig. 5 shows an anchoring bar 67 pivoted to the truck frame 12 and arovided atits.

The operation of the machine above described, briefly su ninarlzed, is as follows:

The beets w1ll be piled on the gathering aprons or sheets 58, said aprons being ilaced on the ground in a row along the line of travel of the machine.

The machine will. stopped in position opposite one of the loaded aprons and one edge of the apronwill be attached to the leaf 49 by the hooks 59 and the other edge thereof will be attached to the floating beain 60 by the hooks 61. Then while the machine is anchored against movement by the anchor66-6'i, or by any other suitable means, the horses hitchedto the eveuer 11 will be started forward. The first part of the pull thus produ ced onthe cables 62 will cause the .attached apron 58 to turn over and deliver its load Y into the elevator box 28, and at the time this dumping takes place, the floating beam 60 will be brought under the bearings 52 and into engagement with the cross bar 51. Justbefore the beam 60 engaged the bar 51, however, said beam was brought. into engagement with the tripping pins 57 and thereby forced the outwardly extended portionsof the levers 55 rearward of the rear corners "of the elevator box 28 and this released the Hit) arms 50 and permitted the same, together with other parts attached thereto; to drop down into the positionindi-cated by dotted lines in Fig. 2. Further forward pull on the cables 62 will cause the loaded elevator box 28 to move upward on the track rails 26 to a point above the pivot 25 and to a position above the wagon box 7, and assaid box reaches such position, the rear tripping levers 45 w1ll engage with the tripping abutinents 48 and, acting through the connections described, will release the latch dogs 38 and permit the drop beam sectitns 30 to be gravity moved on their pivots 34 into dumping positions shown by dotted lines in Fig. 4. Movements of the sections 30 into said positions cause the bottom sections 31 to assume positions shown by dotted lines in Fig. 4, and in thus moving, the rollers 36 travel on the curved guides 37. Thus, the load is dropped from the elevator box 28 into the wagon box 7.

lVhen the loaded elevator box 28 moves above the pivot 25, the upper ends of the track rails 26, under the action of gravity, will be moved downward against the upper edge of the stop board 8 or into a position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2, and this movement of said rails, acting through the tripping cables 70, will raise the anchor 67-67 so that the complete machine may be moved forward.

The normal slack in the chain or cable 10 over the cable 62, as shown in Fig. 1 is such that said chain will be drawn taut approximately at the time the elevator box 28 reaches its dotted line position, Fig. 2, so that, thereafter, forward pull on the evener 11 will cause the machine to travel forward. Here it may be noted that the pull on the cables 62 causes the frame 23 on the loader truck to crowd against the adjacent side of the wagon box 7 so that the two vehicles will travel together or as a single unit.

When the tension on the cables 62 is released, the emptied elevator box 28 will run down the track rails 26 to normal position and the rails 26 will move back to normal position, shown by full lines in Figs. 1.

and 2. Moreover, under such return movements, the dumping bot-tom sections 30 and 31 will be restored to normal position and caught by the latches 39, under the action of gravity and springs 30. Here it is important to note that while the supplemental bottom sections 31 weight the outer portions of the main sections 30 for return movement to normal positions under the action of gravity and springs 30, nevertheless, the said sections 30 are extended farther inward than outward of their pivots 34 so that, when the load is on said sections 30, the dumpingaction will take place un der the action of gravity as soon as the latches 39 are released from the studs 38. The arms 50, with their connecting bar 51, should be restored to normal position, indicated by full lines in Fig. 2, by lifting the same up from the position shown by dotted lines, Fig. 2.

The machine or apparatus described will rapidly load large quantities of beets and the like from the ground into a Wagon box or similar receptacle and it is, therefore, a great labor-saving device. Its operativeness has been demonstrated in practice.

What I claim is:

1. A loading device of the kind described comprising an elevating receptacle, a flexible apron, and means for causing the apron to deposit its load into said elevating receptacle and for moving the loaded receptacle to an elevated dumping position.

2. A loading device of the kind described comprising an inclined track, an elevating receptacle movable on saidtrack, a flexible apron attachable to said receptacle, and means attached to the outer edge ofsaid apron for causing the same to turn over and dump its load into said receptacle and for moving said receptacle on said track to a dumping position.

3. A loading device of the kind described, comprising an elevator and a flexible apron combined with means for turning said apron to deliver its load to said elevator and for operating the elevator.

4. A loading device of the kind described comprising an inclined track, an elevating receptacle movable on said track, a gather ing apron attachable to said receptacle, and a cable attachable to the outer edge of said apron and operative thereon to dump the load from said apron into said receptacle.

5. The structure defined in claim 4 in combination with guides for said cable, and means for causing said cable to move said receptacle upward on said track after it has received its load by pull on said cable.

6. The structure defined in claim 4 in which said receptacle has a dumping bottom and a trip for releasing the same when said receptacle has reached a predetermined position upward on said track.

7 The structure defined in claim 5 in which said receptacle has a dumping bottom and a trip for releasing the same when said receptacle has reached a predetermined position upward on said track.

8. In a loading device, the combination with a traveling support and an inclined track intermediately pivoted thereto, of an elevating receptacle movable on said track, a gathering apron detachably connected to said receptacle at one edge, a cable having connections to the other edge of said apron for causing the same to dump its load into said receptacle, and means cooperating with said cable to cause said receptacle to travel upward on said track and to dump its load in an elevated position under continued pull on said cable.

9. The structure defined in claim 8 in which said receptacle, when moved upward to a discharging position, causes the lower end of said track to raise from the ground.

10. The structure defined in claim 8 in which said receptacle has a drop bottom and further combined with means for tripping said bottom in the dumping position of said receptacle.

11. The structure defined in claim 8 in which said receptacle has a drop bottom and further combined with means for-tripping said bottom in, the dumping position of the receptacle, said receptacle, whenina dumpingposition, causes the lower end of the track to raiseabove the ground.

12. The structure defined in claim '8 in combination with a box-equipped truck lo cated under the upper portion of said track in position to receive thedumped load.

13. The structure defined in claim 8 in which said receptacle has a drop bottom and further combined with means for tripping said bottom in the dumping position of the receptacle, said receptacle, when in a duinp ing position, causes the lower end ofthe track to raise above the ground, and 'a boxequipped truck located underthe upper portion of the track in position to receive the dump load. v p

it. The structure defined in claim 8 in further combination with a cable guide pivotally attached to said receptacle, a latch for holding said cable guide in an elevated position, andmeans for tripping said latch when said cable has been pulled far enough tocause said apron to dump its load into said receptacle.

15. The combination with a box equipped wagon and a loader truck arranged to travel at the side thereof, of an inclined track in terinediately connected on saidloader truck and extending from the ground to a position above the wagon box, an elevating receptacle arranged to travel on said track and having a drop bottom, a latch for said drop bottoin, means for tripping said latch when said receptacle has reached a position on said track above the wagon box, a gatherceptacle,and a draft device connectedflt StilCl cable and to said wagon by means pe1- nected.

'ingapron attached tofsaid' receptacle at edge, a cable attached to the other edgeoi said apron, a cable guide carried by said reinitting said cable first remove said rcep' tacle to a dumping position and then to cause the entire machineto inove forward as an entirety.

16. The structure defined in claim 15 in which said track is interinediately pivoted on said truck and said wagon is provided with a stop limiting the downward anoreinent ot the overlying end of said track."

17. The structuredefined in claim 15 in further combination with a cable guide, a

support for said cable guide pivoted tosaid elevating receptacle, a latch-for holding said support in an elevated position, and a trip for said latch arranged to be operated when which said cable is arranged to more over guides on said truck and movable support and to exert force tending to hold the tWo together for con'nnon travel.

19. The structure defined in claim8in which there is a hinged leaf applied to said receptacle and detac'hably"connected to one edge of said apron, and in' which the outwardly extended end of said cable is equipped with a floating beam to which the other edge of said apron is detachably con- In testimony whereof I allix my signature.

-KNUTE sQ SAT'RE. 

